Suggested best practices for RTM & Google Calendar; also alternative Calendar solutions
lite1 says:
Newbie to RTM and Goog Calendar, but finally got RTM entries to show up, yet do not yet see how this will be a terribly useful feature because:
1) Goog Cal supposedly refreshes only every 6 hours, so RTM and calendar view are often mis-matched if you have added/edited entries.
2) Due to this time-lag, rearranging entires in Goog Cal within a given Day can lead to confusion.
If you use RTM/Goog Cal, what are your best practices so that my (any newbie) learning curve can be cut, and especially what are the pitfalls and dangers of relying on RTM/Goog Cal. Some specific ?s are:
1) If RTM item has date/time spec e.g. 7 May 2009 at 2:00pm and on the morning of that day you get a message that the 2pm appointment has been changed to a later time on the same day, how do you handle this?
2) Reminders: Both RTM and Goog Cal allow for reminders. My inclination would be to only use reminders from RTM. Do you exclusively use reminder function from one or the other, OR both. Why and under what circumstances might you use Both - I don't mean Both for the same calendar item, but that for some calendar item you use Goog reminder and for others you use RTM.
3) Where you do entry; also offline work: Goog Cal color coding seems helpful as it makes it easy to see if an entry came from/is in RTM. It seems that entering (via Quick Add) a date/time event in Goog Cal directly say for a lunch date might be easier especially since if the timing changes one does not face the refresh issue and you can simply drag it to a different day. However doing this RTM would not know about the entry. If one is working offline, this could create confusion. It seems that both Goog Cal and RTM can each be used Offline, however Goog Cal offline is beta and so I expect that there are issues to be aware of.
4) Other calendar choice for RTM: Since I find the RTM and Goog Cal co-ordination to be awkward at best, if you use a different calendar with RTM what have you found as the pros/cons of that alternative. Since I use Mozilla Firefox, is Mozilla Sunbird a nicer fit to RTM than Goog Calendar?
5) Mobile calendar co-ordination: I have a blackberry, but rarely use its calendar; however if one has a blackberry or iPhone, are there other "best practices" to know about for keeping RTM and Goog Cal and a mobile phone calendar all playing nicely together?
Thanks for your input so I can avoid some of the pitfalls and enjoy more of the benefits.
Edward
1) Goog Cal supposedly refreshes only every 6 hours, so RTM and calendar view are often mis-matched if you have added/edited entries.
2) Due to this time-lag, rearranging entires in Goog Cal within a given Day can lead to confusion.
If you use RTM/Goog Cal, what are your best practices so that my (any newbie) learning curve can be cut, and especially what are the pitfalls and dangers of relying on RTM/Goog Cal. Some specific ?s are:
1) If RTM item has date/time spec e.g. 7 May 2009 at 2:00pm and on the morning of that day you get a message that the 2pm appointment has been changed to a later time on the same day, how do you handle this?
2) Reminders: Both RTM and Goog Cal allow for reminders. My inclination would be to only use reminders from RTM. Do you exclusively use reminder function from one or the other, OR both. Why and under what circumstances might you use Both - I don't mean Both for the same calendar item, but that for some calendar item you use Goog reminder and for others you use RTM.
3) Where you do entry; also offline work: Goog Cal color coding seems helpful as it makes it easy to see if an entry came from/is in RTM. It seems that entering (via Quick Add) a date/time event in Goog Cal directly say for a lunch date might be easier especially since if the timing changes one does not face the refresh issue and you can simply drag it to a different day. However doing this RTM would not know about the entry. If one is working offline, this could create confusion. It seems that both Goog Cal and RTM can each be used Offline, however Goog Cal offline is beta and so I expect that there are issues to be aware of.
4) Other calendar choice for RTM: Since I find the RTM and Goog Cal co-ordination to be awkward at best, if you use a different calendar with RTM what have you found as the pros/cons of that alternative. Since I use Mozilla Firefox, is Mozilla Sunbird a nicer fit to RTM than Goog Calendar?
5) Mobile calendar co-ordination: I have a blackberry, but rarely use its calendar; however if one has a blackberry or iPhone, are there other "best practices" to know about for keeping RTM and Goog Cal and a mobile phone calendar all playing nicely together?
Thanks for your input so I can avoid some of the pitfalls and enjoy more of the benefits.
Edward
(closed account) says:
Nice post, very though provoking.
1- I'd change the RTM to-do and if it's just a small time change (ergo I think Gcal wont refresh in time) I add a placeholder in Gcalendar as well.
2- Only Google Calendar. RTM doesnt work for me (my country). Others have said that RTM reminders make them pay extra to their telefone companies (something about converting emails to TXT I think)
3- The offline thing as far as I know doesnt bring any particular trouble for me. The other observation is very valid and one of the reasons why I hope RTM gets a self-contained calendar. It means I use Gcalendar for quick "violent" bursts of makeshift organization and then I manually transfer to RTM the results (if needed, I try not to do it a lot cause it's a waste of time)
4- I tried 30 boxes, it has one VERY good thing, it lets you refresh things in a second. It didnt feel right for me, but definately check it out, it's very good.
5-No idea, sorry. Dont have a smartphone.
Victor
1- I'd change the RTM to-do and if it's just a small time change (ergo I think Gcal wont refresh in time) I add a placeholder in Gcalendar as well.
2- Only Google Calendar. RTM doesnt work for me (my country). Others have said that RTM reminders make them pay extra to their telefone companies (something about converting emails to TXT I think)
3- The offline thing as far as I know doesnt bring any particular trouble for me. The other observation is very valid and one of the reasons why I hope RTM gets a self-contained calendar. It means I use Gcalendar for quick "violent" bursts of makeshift organization and then I manually transfer to RTM the results (if needed, I try not to do it a lot cause it's a waste of time)
4- I tried 30 boxes, it has one VERY good thing, it lets you refresh things in a second. It didnt feel right for me, but definately check it out, it's very good.
5-No idea, sorry. Dont have a smartphone.
Victor
lite1 says:
Victor, thanks for your comments on how you handle the "issues" I raised in OP. All other responses are welcome as there are probably several "valid" strategies based on one's needs and criteria for a good approach.
Edward
Edward
(closed account) says:
oh, absolutely agreed. I learn more every day. Chime in everyone!
This is a good question.
I have a smartlist in RTM that parses overdue tasks and things due in the next 30 days, and then I feed that into Gcal. I find this very helpful for creating printed agendas, which I generate with the agenda feature in Gcal.
I do not find the lag to be too much of an issue. I edit my tasks as the day goes on, and then do an end of day cleanup and prep for the next day in the evening. By the time I wake up, my RTM is refreshed in Gcal and ready to go again.
One of my favorite suggestions on these boards is the idea to create ,multiple smartlists that feed into Gcal, and associate varying reminder options in Gcal, as this is a great way to overcome the all-or-nothing nature of RTM's reminder features.
I funnel my tasks and calendar onto an iPod touch, and it does a great job of giving me a snapshot of what I need to keep in mind.
I do wish I could update things in iCal or Gcal and have those changes reflected on RTM, but I make out pretty well even without that capability.
Good luck.
I have a smartlist in RTM that parses overdue tasks and things due in the next 30 days, and then I feed that into Gcal. I find this very helpful for creating printed agendas, which I generate with the agenda feature in Gcal.
I do not find the lag to be too much of an issue. I edit my tasks as the day goes on, and then do an end of day cleanup and prep for the next day in the evening. By the time I wake up, my RTM is refreshed in Gcal and ready to go again.
One of my favorite suggestions on these boards is the idea to create ,multiple smartlists that feed into Gcal, and associate varying reminder options in Gcal, as this is a great way to overcome the all-or-nothing nature of RTM's reminder features.
I funnel my tasks and calendar onto an iPod touch, and it does a great job of giving me a snapshot of what I need to keep in mind.
I do wish I could update things in iCal or Gcal and have those changes reflected on RTM, but I make out pretty well even without that capability.
Good luck.
lite1 says:
Thanks for your input Ranbarton - as usual your posts are thoughtful and to me helpful.
Aside from the fact that RTM does not have its own calendar within the program, it is also a bit of a nuisance that when assigning due dates that one needs to look elsewhere to see a calendar. I got tired of toggling back and forth to Gcal; or having two browser windows open so yesterday I did a Google search on freeware floating calendar. I installed a small simple calendar (Floating Clock PS v3.0) that you can force to float on top of other windows. I am beginning to find this quite useful when working in RTM entering tasks and due dates. It takes only a tiny bit of screen space which is nice. Would be nicer if there were a hot key to toggle it on/off, but for a free program I am finding it to be a useful time saver.
Still hoping to hear how other people utilize RTM and Gcal.
Edward
Aside from the fact that RTM does not have its own calendar within the program, it is also a bit of a nuisance that when assigning due dates that one needs to look elsewhere to see a calendar. I got tired of toggling back and forth to Gcal; or having two browser windows open so yesterday I did a Google search on freeware floating calendar. I installed a small simple calendar (Floating Clock PS v3.0) that you can force to float on top of other windows. I am beginning to find this quite useful when working in RTM entering tasks and due dates. It takes only a tiny bit of screen space which is nice. Would be nicer if there were a hot key to toggle it on/off, but for a free program I am finding it to be a useful time saver.
Still hoping to hear how other people utilize RTM and Gcal.
Edward